I value helping people feel great and do good. I know how hard it can be to thrive nowadays, and lots of us try our best to understand what we should be doing to look better, perform at a high level, and be happy and well. But achieving this is often elusive, for many aspects of modern life — grueling work schedules, fast food, physical inactivity, social isolation, pollution and so on — are at odds with the behaviours and conditions our bodies need to function optimally. And let’s be honest: There’s a lot of nonsense about health out there too!
I help empower people to make simple and sustainable lifestyle changes that add years to their lives and life to their years. To this end, here are some of my relevant qualifications:
- I did my undergraduate and master’s degrees in exercise science at Loughborough University.
- My PhD research at the University of Leeds focused on sleep, circadian rhythms, nutrition, and metabolism.
- I’m qualified as a personal trainer and sports massage therapist and have worked as a coach for over a decade.
Some of my other interests
In the last few years, I’ve become more aware of the power of effective altruism, a movement that uses reason and evidence to do as much good as possible with one’s life. There’s an enormous difference between how effective different charities are, so giving just a small fraction of your income to the most effective charities can have a much larger impact than you might expect.
Related to effective altruism, most of us — and this has certainly been true of me — spend too little time considering how to use our careers to work on the most important and pressing problems of our time. I’m impressed by the work the team at 80,000 Hours is doing to address this and recommend perusing their website.
I deeply value science and believe in the optimistic perspective David Deutsch put forward in one of my favourite books, The Beginning of Infinity: With sufficient knowledge, all problems are soluble. At the same time, given the power of the technology we now have, we are now in a uniquely vulnerable and pivotal moment in human history, a point convincingly drilled home in The Precipice by Toby Ord.
Outside of work, I love exploring new places and different cultures. I’ve been lucky to visit many extraordinarily beautiful locations, such as the Galápagos, Madagascar, and Raja Ampat. I’ve always been drawn to nature and am particularly fond of hiking and scuba diving. These experiences have made me very concerned about the need to protect the environments we all share.
I of course enjoy everyday activities too — like most people, I love seeing family and friends, meeting new people, watching the sun rise and set, eating good food, and reading interesting books!